Folded printed copies are usually delivered to a paddle wheel from a folding jaw cylinder before they are laid out--subsequent to further delivery steps--to give a scale-like stream and are transported onward. After the opening of such folding jaws on a folding jaw cylinder, the printed copies are held on the folding jaw cylinder by means of a guide belt prior to delivery to the paddle wheel. The printed copies then drop, in a free-fall mode, into the scoops of the paddle wheel. In the case of so-called double production, in which a printed copy comes to lie in each pair of folding jaws of the folding jaw cylinder. The momentum which is imparted by the folding jaw cylinder to the printed copy is often not sufficient to hurl the printed copy as far as the bottom of the scoop whereas, in the case of so-called collection-production, in which only every second folding jaw is overlaid with a printed copy, the printed copies are hurled into the scoops with an undesirably high momentum and become compressed in this way. This is due to the feature that, in the case of collection-production, the paddle wheel is driven at a lower speed than in the case of double production whereas the speed of the cylinder with the folding valves is the same in both cases. The length of the scoops can be optimized only with respect to one type of production or it represents a compromise between the two types of production which is never quite satisfactory. In addition to this problem of the speed difference, the unsatisfactory transportation of the printed copies up to the point of their accommodation in the scoops of the paddle wheel is also problematic during delivery of the printed copies to a paddle wheel. During the course of delivery, as is known, the printed copies are transported exclusively via momentum and are moved, in a free-fall mode, from the folding jaw cylinder into the scoops only because of their inertia. In addition, at least one further delivery step is necessary to a transporter, which is arranged in series thereafter, for laying out the printed copies in a scale-like stream.
An arrangement without a paddle wheel for the acceptance of printed copies from a folding jaw cylinder and for laying out these printed copies in the form of a scale-like stream is known from EP 0 429 884 A1. In the case of this arrangement, the printed copies are taken off the folding jaw cylinder by means of a stripper. A first transportation unit--by means of which the printed copies which have been taken off are transported onward at the conveying speed of the printing machine which is installed in front thereof--is arranged behind the folding jaw cylinder. In this first transportation unit, the printed copies follow one another at a separation which corresponds to their separation on the cylinder with the folding valves. The printed copies are delivered from the first transportation unit to a second transportation unit, which is driven at a lower speed. This allows the printed copies to be transported onward by the second transportation unit in a mutually overlapping manner in the form of a scale-like stream. In both transportation units, the printed copies are, in each case, conveyed between two transportation belts which are arranged parallel, one above the other, at a distance. The delivery of the printed copies to the second transportation unit from the first transportation unit is problematical. During delivery, the printed copies are not transported in a defined manner. It is precisely in this phase that the copies have to be simultaneously slowed down from the high speed of the folding jaw cylinder to the lower speed of the scale-like stream which is to be transported onward. Deceleration can take place only after delivery, i.e. after the printed copy, which has just been delivered, has come to lie on the printed copy which preceded it. In each transportation unit, two horizontal conveyors are also necessary. These conveyors are driven at the same speed, in each case, in order to transport the printed copies. This necessitates high costs in terms of synchronization.